No Confidence

Rumsfeld stonewalls:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld steadfastly declined Thursday to give Congress a public estimate of the size of the Iraqi insurgency...

"They're not static. The numbers change," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "They're made up of different elements: criminals, Baathists, the former regime elements, the Zarqawi network and jihadists. Even though the jihadists are the smallest portion of them, they appear to us to be the most lethal."

Translation: I'm talking out of my ass--is the Senator's time up?

Dick Myers chimed in about the "limited" capability of the insurgency:

"They have a limited capacity," he said. They can conduct 50 to 60 attacks per day around the country, he said.

Except when they can conduct more attacks, like, say, on "election" day when the total shot up to almost 300. Myers has a wonderfully limited concept of term "limited." General--almost two years into the operation, and you're seeing daily attacks. Mission Accomplished? Not even close.

Rumsfeld also declares he has "no confidence" in estimates of insurgent strength, which is either a lie or a startling admission that he's blindly reacting to the rebellion. Either way, it's not good news.

Oh, one more thing: for those who'd like to take a short trip down memory lane, PBS ran a fairly decent Frontline titled Rumsfeld's War this week (here in Loosiana, it aired Tuesday night, and the show is available for online viewing). I recall watching Rummy have a great laugh about the word "quagmire," challenging the assembled press to ask him questions on the subject. I wonder if he's still available?

Nah, not a chance.

Other highlights include his theory of looting and how it's a sign of freedom, his rebuke of General Shinsheki, who carefully considered the force necessary to occupy the country--Rummy and his own version of Igor, i.e., Paul Wolfowitz, both cried that the General's numbers we're way off the mark, with Wolfie saying it was "hard to imagine" more forces needed for the occupation than the operation. Hmmm. Subsequent events seem to indicate that Rummy & Wolfie might be a little airy upstairs.

Image found at Scaramouche.

My personal favorite moment though, was a shot of D.C. in the evening, with a Dubya voice-over announcing that he'd given the order to

Disarm Iraq
Free its People and
Defend the World from Grave Danger,

Let's see--two years later, and

No Weapons of Mass Destruction--NONE. Plenty of regular weapons, though. Weapons that were never secured, and which now are in the hands of insurgents. I'd say that in the matter of disarming Iraq, Bush gets a D minus.

Free its People--apparently "freedom" to Bush means "killing" in plain English. AT LEAST 16,000 to date, possible a LOT more. Unless you're a fan of Death Wish movies, this scores a big fat "F."

Defend the World from Grave Danger--um, what exactly WAS the danger? To paraphrase Zell Miller, spitballs? Another failing grade.

I wonder if they'll make Rumsfeld sign the report card. Again, nah--he'd probably refuse to do even that.